


Quidditch and Pints

by xslytherclawx



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Getting Together, Harry Potter Rare Pair Bingo: Wildcard, M/M, Post-Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-17
Updated: 2021-01-17
Packaged: 2021-03-15 19:22:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 740
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28818474
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xslytherclawx/pseuds/xslytherclawx
Summary: Harry runs into a former classmate at the pub after a Quidditch match.
Relationships: Terence Higgs/Harry Potter
Comments: 2
Kudos: 20
Collections: Harry Potter Rare Pair Bingo Wildcards!





	Quidditch and Pints

**Author's Note:**

  * For [NicoDiAngeloLover7](https://archiveofourown.org/users/NicoDiAngeloLover7/gifts).



> This was a prize for NicoDiAngeloLover7 for winning round two of HP Rare Pair Bingo. I have permission to post this as a gift, and I hope y'all enjoy it.

Harry was never going to play professional Quidditch.

He loves the sport, of course. There’s  _ nothing _ like flying. He thinks if he could play Quidditch professionally and  _ not _ be famous, he’d do it in a heartbeat.

But after eight years of living in the Wizarding World… after the War and the trials… when all was said and done… he didn’t want to go back into the spotlight.

Things might’ve been different if he’d been a normal wizard, but there’s really no use in dwelling on what might have changed were it not for the prophesy. He’s learned that about a hundred times over.

That said, just because he would much rather fade into obscurity doesn’t mean that he doesn’t enjoy  _ going _ to Quidditch matches.

Especially when Ginny gets the whole lot of them box tickets.

He wouldn’t say the Harpies are  _ his _ team, or anything (he’s a Puddlemere fan), but there  _ is _ something hilarious in watching Ron actively root against his sister.

Privately (Harry knows better than to say this during the match), he thinks the Cannons don’t stand a chance. They haven’t been good in about a century, and the Harpies are consistently one of the top teams in Britain.

There’s something to be said for all-women’s teams.

Predictably, the Cannons lose, and it’s a very quick match for a professional game. Over in under an hour.

Ginny wants to meet them at the pub, and Ron spends the entire time there grumbling about how unfair it is. Harry claps his shoulder and lies about how the Cannons put up a good fight (they did not, but they never do), and that if he wants a team to  _ win, _ maybe he should change loyalties.

Ron makes a remark about how the only people to support Puddlemere only do so because they buy up all the good players, and Harry only laughs.

They get into the pub before Ginny. Ron grabs them each a pint, while Harry finds a table.

Harry is minding his own business when someone approaches him.

Unfortunately, this sort of thing happens all too often. As much as he’s tried to blend in, he can’t help but stand out.

Maybe playing professional Quidditch wouldn’t have been that different, anyway.

“It’s Potter, isn’t it?” the wizard asks, which is a good deal more polite than most people.

Harry recognises him, but he can’t quite place him. “Yeah,” he says. “Listen, I’m just out to a pint with my mates…”

The wizard rolls his eyes. “I’m not starstruck. I know you from school.”

That doesn’t  _ really  _ narrow it down; most witches and wizards Harry’s ever met attended Hogwarts, and loads of them at the same time as him.

“Higgs,” the wizard says. “Terence.”

“Oh! You were the Slytherin Seeker before Malfoy!”

“Before the little prick bought his way onto the team, yes,” Higgs says. 

Harry isn’t surprised that a Slytherin doesn’t like Malfoy. He’s more surprised when he meets people who  _ do. _ “So you hadn’t graduated, then?”

“I was in fourth year. So no. I’m not gifted enough to have sat my N.E.W.T.s at age fourteen.”

“I’m sorry,” Harry says, because what else can he say?

Higgs shrugs. “Malfoy only did it because he was obsessed with you.”

People say that, but Harry’s not sure whether or not to believe them. “That’s what I’ve been told.”

“It’s the truth. I thought he was mental then, you know, but… you’ve actually grown up to be quite good-looking.”

Is… is Higgs hitting on him? “You think?”

“Absolutely. I didn’t really notice first years as a fourth year, of course, and by the time you were old enough to be interesting, I’d graduated, but… I’ve got to hand it to Malfoy: he’s got taste.”

“I really don’t think Malfoy was obsessed with me like  _ that,” _ Harry says, mostly because the thought of it turns his stomach.

Higgs doesn’t respond immediately. Harry has a difficult time reading his expression. “I work in the Department of Magical Games and Sports. I know you work in the Ministry, too. If you’d like to get a drink, or dinner. Just the two of us.”

“You want to go on a date with me?”

Higgs rolls his eyes. “Am I not being obvious enough?”

“No. You are. I just want to be clear. A drink can mean a lot of things.”

“This drink means a date. So what do you say, Potter?”

**Author's Note:**

> come visit me on [tumblr](https://xslytherclawx.tumblr.com/)!
> 
> Please feel free to join my Harry Potter [discord server](https://discord.gg/yb6bS3c)!


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